Mom jeans. They’ve been joked on by Saturday Night Live and banished by fashion magazines, and yet they continue to be sold by such fine establishments as JCPenney. These high-waisted, butt-enlargingly tapered creations are usually only seen in elementary school car lines — unfortunately, mom jeans’ little sister, denim leggings, have been getting a little bit more exposure than they deserve recently.
My first encounter with denim leggings began when my own mother bought me a pair in 1997. She was fascinated by the comfortable, stretchy fabric, and I wore them because I had them.
I seriously thought the last time I would see denim leggings was when I put them in a trash bag to take to Goodwill, but, to my surprise, one night when I was watching television with my family, there they were wrapped around the legs of Mischa Barton on my own TV screen, on a fashion show no less (check it out around 3:30).
She was shopping with a British TV personality, and, when complimented on her vintage rocker tee, she dove into a story about how she found her new denim leggings and fell in love.
Why the producers didn’t cut this scene out of the segment, I have no earthly idea. You’d think the Brits would know better.
I can deal with the girls at Penn who think leggings count as pants, but denim leggings? Please, spare me the camel toe.


September 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I love my leggings but have not given in to the denim leggings… Don’t think I will after reading this diatribe…. I’m old enough to go for the mom pants but I think they would accentuate my cankles too much….
Have a great week-end and keep up the cool blog! We gone….
September 6th, 2008 at 2:18 am
So I am also horrified by denim leggings…unfortunatly have fallen prey to the leggings as pants look…although someone aka u swore never to talk to me if i ever did that again so thank god for that
September 6th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
on behalf of all fans of snl, i would like to thank you for indirectly promoting said tv program. by the way, are there any pictures of you in thoses leggings?
September 17th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
[...] am I not paid to blog? Am I to write about denim leggings and Verizon’s evil monster only for the public good? AT&T should send me a thank you [...]
October 11th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
leggings are fantastic. They really are very comfortable. Denim leggings are also great, and look fabulous when worn appropriately. I think certain people who shouldn’t be wearing them are giving them a bad name, but, it’s a free country and they can wear what they like.
If you”re willing, definitely give the denim leggings a try, with a cute sweater tunic and flat winter boots (not UGGS, but the robin hood looking ones) and a cute belt, or even with an over sized hoodie. It really is a very cute and comfortable look; as long as you wear it correctly (with proper undergarments).